Predictive zone control of pressure management for water supply network systems

Abstract

In this paper we address the problem of pressure management in water supply system (WSS) network. The model-based predictive control (MPC) strategies have some important features to deal with WSS. By hydraulic analysis of WSS, the predictive model is derived from the dynamic model and static model of WSS. Through WSS, the consumers' demands are required to be met at all times according to some operational constraints that must be satisfied. The constraints of flow through actuators, the water level of reservoirs and the consumer areas' pressure demand are determined by a specific system. In this work, we develop a constrained MPC controller that considers the zone control of the pressure outputs and incorporates steady state economic targets in the control cost function. The designed management strategies are applied to a case study and simulation results, covering different aspects, are provided. The output nodal pressure can be controlled in the desired zone by optimal scheduling the actuators of the WSS. If the variation range of reservoir's water level is broader, the rate of flow through the actuators is gentle, and vice versa.